Winston Churchill LifeStory

Keep your memories alive

Feedback

Support

Show LifeStory

Winston Churchill's lifestory

Profile

Contest status off

Birth
When: 30 November 1874
Where: Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM
Winston Churchill was born on 30 November 1874 in Oxford shire in the United Kingdom. A descent of the Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born to a politician father Lord Randolph Churchill and mother Lady Randolph Churchill who was the daughter of an American millionaire. Winston Churchill had a brother John Strange Spencer.


Education
When: 1888
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Winston Churchillâ€™s military career began with admitting in to Harrow School in 1888, where he joined the Harrow Rifle Corps. Throughout his schooling life, he performed average in academic but showed a particular interest in English and History. He did not see much of his parents in his early life as he stayed with his grandmother and this made him relatively independent and rebellious in nature. He was believed to have a cold relation with his father before he died on 24 January 1895.


Career in Army: Royal Military Academy
When: December 1893
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Churchill left Harrow in 1893 to seek admission into the Royal Military Academy. He graduated from there in December 1895 and was appointed as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Queenâ€™s Own Hussars on 20 February 1895. While serving there, he was awarded the honor of the Hussars in 1941.


Career in Army: Cuba and British India
When: from 1895 to 1896
Where: WORLDWIDE
Winston Churchill was sent to Cuba in 1895 to observe the fight between the Spanish and Cuban Guerrillas. He stayed there until he was informed of his nannyâ€™sillness . He returned to England and from that time on, stayed with his nanny until she died after a week or so. The next year in 1896, he was transferred to Bombay, then a part of the British India, where he developed a passion for Polo.


Career in Army: fighting against a Pashtun tribe
When: 1897
Where: WORLDWIDE
In 1897, Churchill fought against a Pashtun tribe in Malakand-now in Pakistan- under the leadership of General Jeffery. After the victory of the British Army he wrote an account of the fight, which was published in1900 as The Story of the Malakand Field Force. An avid writer, Churchill wrote several articles and columns for the newspapers during the war, for which he received a huge sum.


Career in Army: Egypt
When: 1898
Where: EGYPT
Churchill was next sent to Egypt in 1898 where he served in the Sudan under the leadership of General Herbert Kitchener. While in the Sudan, he actively participated in the battle of Omdurman in 1898 and worked as a war correspondent for a newspaper. Upon his return to England in 1898, he wrote an account of the recon quest of the Sudan which was published in the next year as The River War. In 1899, he resigned from the Army and unsuccessfully bid for Parliament in Oldham in the by-election the same year.


Career in Army: finishing
When: 1902
Where: WORLDWIDE
With the declaration of war between Britain and the Boer Republics, Winston was appointed as a war correspondent for the newspaper the Morning Post. While working there, he was captured and imprisoned for his involvement in a scouting team. He was put in a POW camp in Pretoria, from where he succeeded to escape just a few weeks after. Upon his return to England, he rejoined the army. In 1990, Winston took retirement from the army and joined the Imperial Yeomanry as a captain in the Queenâ€™s Own Oxford shire Hussars on 4 January 1902. He moved to the rank of Major in 1905 and took charge as a commander of the Henley Squadron of the Queenâ€™s Own Oxford shire Hussars. Churchill, then the first Lord of the Admiralty, was appointed Lieutenant-colonel of Royal Scots Fusiliers on 1 January 1916.


Early Political Activities
When: from 1905 to 1917
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Churchill won the Oldham seat at the 1900 general election. After his entry in to the Parliament, he became closely linked with the Conservative Party. He was rejected by his electoral after his opposition to the governmentâ€™s military expenditure and extensive tariffs designed to shield Britainâ€™s economic power. He became associated with the Liberal Party and after it assumed power in 1905, Winston was made Under-Secretary of State. However, He had been rejected by his constituency in Oldham; Churchill was invited to contest for the Manchester North West seat. He won the seat at the 1906 general election and remained in the position until 1908, when he was appointed as President of the Board of Trade. While serving in the cabinet, he actively participated in opposing the proposed exorbitant expenditure for Navy and supported Liberal Reforms. In 1908, he brought in a Trade Bill, which set up the first minimum wages in Britain and the following year in 1909, Winston established â€˜Labor Exchangeâ€™, which aimed at helping unemployed people find work. He played an instrumental role in planning the first unemployed pension legislation in 1911, which became known as the National Insurance Act of 1911. In 1910, Winston Churchill was appointed as Home Secretary following the major victory of Liberal Party in two consecutive general elections. In July 1917, Churchill was elected Minister of Munitions.


Marriage
When: 12 September 1908
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Winston Churchill married Clementine Hozier on 12 September 1908 in St. Margaretâ€™s Westminster and in 1909, the couple moved to a house at 33 Eccleston Square.


Child birth
When: from 11 July 1909 to 15 September 1922
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Their first child, Diana was born in London on 11 July 1909 and stayed with her nanny while Clementine moved to Sussex. Their son Randolph was born on 28 May 1911 and their third child Sarah came on 7 October 1914 at Admiralty House. Clementine gave birth to Marigold Frances Churchill on 15 November 1918. However, Marigold, who was their fourth child, could not survive into the adulthood and died from illness on 23 August 1921. The coupleâ€™s fifth and last child Mary was born next year on 15 September 1922.


Chancellor of Exchequer
When: 1924
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
In 1924, Winston Churchill won the seat for Epping as an independent candidate in the general election and the following year in 1925, he formally rejoined the Conservative Party. Churchillâ€™s was appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 which was followed by a great deflation in the Britain. A situation of anarchy occurred and a series of minerâ€™s strikes led to the General Strike of 1926. The government adopted highly repressive method to break the strikes and as a result, Conservative Party lost the next general election in1929. From then on, The Conservative Party started distancing itself from him and the two never came to terms in the next following years. This was a time of Political Isolation which became known as his Wilderness Years.


Campaign against India a dominion status
When: 1931
Where: WORLDWIDE
During the mid 1930â€™s, Winston openly spoke and campaigned against the proposal to grant India a dominion status. When The Viceroy Lord Irwin announced the governmentâ€™s policy to grant India Independence in the Round Table Conference in 1931, however, the Liberal party and the Conservative Party supported the governmentâ€™s decision- Winston Churchill responded by denouncing the Conference and estranged from the government ineradicably.


First Term as Prime Minister
When: 03 December 1939
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
On 3 December, 1939, Britain declared war against Germany; with this Churchill was again elected the First Lord of the Admiralty and became a member of the war cabinet. The Prime Minister Chamberlain resigned after the German invasion of Norway and Churchill was invited to form an â€“all party government. As Prime minister, Churchill refused to any peace agreement with an evidently growing Germany and geared up the British for a long War. During his premiership, Churchill maintained good relations with the U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt which secured a regular supply of food, arms and oil in Britain. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston fully supported the U.S in its disastrous counter attack on Germany and Japan. The both Prime Ministers signed the Morgenthau Plan at the second Quebec conference in 1944, in which the mutually vowed to renovate Germany into an agricultural and bucolic country after its inevitable defeat in the War. A fervent anti-communist, Churchill gave a huge support to Soviet Union against German invasion, declaring that if he had to choose between communism and Nazis, he will choose communism.


Second Term as Prime Minister
When: 1951
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
Though the World War II ended with a landslide victory of British and allied countries, Winston lost the 1945 election and became a leader of the opposition. His success came with the General Election of 1951, when he was again elected Prime Minister for a second term. However, foreign policies and international affairs dominated his first term; he put efforts to build the Britain an International power in his second government. He adopted direct military actions against rebellions and Kenya was the First to witness his road to world victory, following by Malaya. Though the rebellions were repressed through harsh methods, it was clearly visible that colonial rule from Britain has come to a downfall.


Health & Retirement
When: from 1953 to 1963
Where: WORLDWIDE
Winston Churchill suffered his first major stroke in 1953, at age 78, which left him unable to speak and walk properly. He moved to his home Chart well to recover from the effects of the stroke and returned in October that year. In the wake of his declining health and inability to govern, he resigned as Prime Minister in 1955 to be succeeded by Anthony Eden. After retiring from the public life, Churchill mostly stayed at home. The first time, he came out in active politics was when he contested at the 1964 General Election. In 1963, Winston received an Honorary Citizen of the United States from U.S. President John F. Kennedy.


Death & Funeral
When: 24 January 1965
Where: UNITED KINGDOM
On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered another major stroke which proved to be fatal and he died after nine days on 24 January 1965. After death, his body lay in state for three days and a state funeral was held at St. Paulâ€™s Cathedral. The funeral service witnessed the largest Royal gathering of statesman from across the world and was mourned upon by thousands of people. His body was buried at St. Martinâ€™s Church, near Woodstock, near his birth place at Blenheim Palace.

LifeChapters @ 2011 [ About ] [ Investors ] [ Terms and Conditions ] [ Help ]